By contrast, France’s government under Prime Minister Michel Barnier, which was toppled last week after losing a confidence vote, got EU approval for its 2025 budget and its longer-term plan. Barnier did not win political support for the measures from the far-right and left-wing blocs in parliament, which hold the balance of power.
Both the Dutch and the French need to take extra steps to cut spending, Heinen said.
“This is not only in the interest of France but in the interest of Europe as a whole,” he added.
Despite France having deficit and debt levels higher than those in the Netherlands, EU rules take into account the starting position of each country ― and the French commitments to cut spending were also “more ambitious”, European Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said last week.
The EU executive has been accused for a long time of applying special treatment to France. The country, the second largest in the EU, has had a deficit ― the difference between how much a government spends and how much it brings in ― above the crucial 3-percent-of-GDP ceiling in 18 out of the last 22 years.
France’s 2025 budget is expected to come at the beginning of the new year. Without a new medium-term budget plan, the one previously presented by Barnier ― and approved by the EU executive ― is set to be formally adopted by EU governments in January, making its planned cuts binding for French governments over seven years.
